Bayleys news & articles

Mood of the market: Auckland property sales on the rise

Monday, 20 February 2017

Tags: AucklandResearchResidential

Aucklanders are once again starting to put their houses on the market – a trend picked up by Bayleys national residential manager Daniel Coulson, and substantiated by the latest Real Estate Institute of New Zealand sales data.

After months of record low numbers of houses available for sale across Auckland, the number of properties for sale in the region jumped by 17 percent in January 2017 compared to the same month last year.

“This contrasts with declining numbers of properties for sale nationwide – with 3,743 houses for sale in January this year compared to 12 months ago,” Mr Coulson said.

“At the same time, median house prices have risen 9.4 percent across New Zealand year-on-year, to $490,000.”

The latest REINZ statistics show that on a seasonally adjusted basis, the number of residential property sales in the Auckland region fell six percent from its level in December - in line with expectations for this time of year which sees the Christmas/New Year holiday period nudge up against the beginning of the Chinese New Year.

Sales volumes in the Auckland region fell 18 percent compared to January 2016. On a more micro-geographic level, volumes were up three percent in Auckland City, but down 14 percent in Rodney and 16 percent in Outer Auckland.

Compared to January 2016, the median price in Auckland rose $85,000 – equating to 12 percent, with prices rising 16 percent in Manukau, 14 percent in Outer Auckland and 13 percent in Rodney.

Compared to December, the median price fell by $35,000 – a fall of four percent, with prices rising seven percent in Rodney, five percent in Outer Auckland, but falling across the rest of the region.

Mr Coulson said there was now more than four months of housing supply available in Auckland - meaning greater choice for potential home buyers in the city. There are now 16.6 weeks of housing inventory listings on the market in the Auckland region - an increase of 5.5 weeks compared to January 2016.